Amtrak trains face growing delays from oil trains

The growing volume of oil train traffic is apparently contributing to delays on Amtrak trains that share the tracks. And Congressional legislation that set standards to keep Amtrak trains on time was tossed out last year by a federal appeals court, and may have aggravated the problem an Amtrak official said.

Severe winter weather also has been a problem.

The Lake Shore Limited, which connects New York City and Boston with Chicago via Albany, was among the worst performers, with an on-time rate of just 30.7 percent in the current fiscal year through April, an Amtrak vice president told the U.S. Surface Transportation Board last week. Much of the delay was attributed to extreme winter weather.

The worst performer was the Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle. D.J. Stadtler, the Amtrak vice president of operations, told regulators he was “cautiously optimistic about our ability to jointly address the issues that the Empire Builder faces with our host railroads, BNSF Railway and Canadian Pacific…”

But he called the problem systemic and asked the STB to monitor host railroads’ performance.

Bruce Becker, president of the Empire State Passengers Association, a rail advocacy group, said he experienced delays last weekend while traveling between Buffalo and Schenectady, as his train followed three freight trains, one of them an oil train.

Railroads have limited oil trains’ top speeds because of safety concerns, and the CSX oil train was traveling at 50 mph, nearly 30 mph slower than the maximum passenger train speeds permitted on the route. The passenger train was able to pass the three trains on an adjacent track.

He said other factors also have contributed to delays, from unusually cold winter weather to a brush fire near the tracks in Utica last weekend that slowed his return trip to Buffalo. And he cautioned that track maintenance in the warmer months likely will cause further delays.

All those fully Loaded tankers “only” doing 50 miles per hour.How long does it take to stop one of these at that speed.Whats in it for us letting these bombs roll through here.I don’t get it if we have everything to lose with nothing to gain.

Here in Central Illinois, oil trains are not the culprit. AMTRAK service is being disrupted by inter-modal traffic that the Union Pacific is running over the rails that the Federal government just paid big money to improve for faster AMTRAK service. The trains run more often now, and they are getting longer and longer. This interferes with AMTRAK schedules, despite the UPs signed agreement to give AMTRAK trains priority. The UP built a huge new inter-modal transfer point just south of Joliet and now are “allowing” the taxpayers of America to upgrade the roads and rail all around it for their own corporate benefit.

The agenda of journalist to attack trains caring oil when so many far more caustic & damaging chemicals are transported in a similar mode is poor journalism. True it is safer to transport many fossil fuels by pipeline, however the environmentalist seem to have a problem with that far safer and less troublesome mode of transport.

A question to Eric Anderson is “Was the Amtrak train on schedule before it found itself behind the other trains? I suspect not, knowing the record of Amtrak! Perhaps if High-Speed Rail was a reality instead of theory, a second track dedicated for this specific purpose would cure the issue. However, in reality, the airline industry would never allow these projects to jeopardize their lock on a faster mode of travel.

I wish someone from the railroad would weigh in on the TU’s quest to get rid of oil trains and jobs, but I will give it my best shot.

As far as I know all freight trains, oil included, are limited to 50 MPH between Albany and Buffalo. Intermodals can go 60MPH. Passenger trains are limited to 70.

With that there is not a 30 MPH difference between Amtrak and the oil trains as your blog states. The freight railroads do what they can to give Amtrak priority but they are not going to halt operations just because Bruce Becker is running late. If Bruce Becker and Amtrak do not like delays then they should look into building their own infrastructure and stop piggybacking their trains on top of a private company like CSX.

CSX, BNSF, and Union Pacific do not offer passenger travel for a reason. It’s a losing proposition. If the governmnet wants to start throwing money at the railroads like they do with highways and airports then fine. But until they get in the game they need to deal with it.

I have conflicting information that says 70. Still singling out oil trains as the problem is disingenuous on your part. The oil train is just another freight train that an Amtrak train needs to pass. I find it quite surprising that you have joined this “ban the oil train” cause the local media and people like Dan McCoy support. Your blog is about business. That would imply you are pro-business. Apparently what businesses are supported and who isn’t is selected by the TU editorial board.

First, the top speed permitted is 79. Your information is incorrect. Second, we have not joined the “ban the oil train” movement. But we’re pointing out that the additional traffic has added to already congested freight lines, particularly in the Dakotas where the Empire Builder operates, and where BNSF admits it has a problem and is scrambling to increase capacity with additional trackage. You seem to have missed the part where we identified severe winter weather as another factor in the delays, slowing all traffic on the rail lines. We cover business objectively, and we were among the first to cover the developing “pipeline on rails” that CP and others established to move oil efficiently and economically to refiners. The risks became apparent with the Quebec tragedy. It’s also pointing out some of the shortcomings in regulatory oversight. Oil trains do move more slowly than other types of freight. I believe CP keeps top speeds to just 10 mph through urban areas, one of the steps it is taking to make transport as safe as possible. Thank you for your comments.

BSB: You and your ilk can’t have it both ways. You can’t say things like “they should look into building their own infrastructure and stop piggybacking their trains on top of a private company like CSX” and “if the government wants to start throwing money at the railroads like they do with highways and airports then fine” and then turn around and scream bloody murder when they do exactly that.

The “experienced delays last weekend while traveling between Buffalo and Schenectady” is a nice touch until you realize the “Mild Run” of stops at the stations in: Rochester, Syracuse & Utica which means the delay from the freight traffic due to speed is not really the problem!

Freight trains are under utilized and results with the over weight trucking damaging our highways. NYS should consider OPERATING the truck scales 24/7 to promote rail as the cost effective alternative and save the taxpayers some of the damage to our highways and bridges.

I recently returned from a round trip across the US via Amtrak.I used the LAke
Shore Limited to and from Chicago,the Empire Builder to Seattle(crossing
Minnesota,ND, and Montana,the focus of the freight problems,Seattle to San
Fransico,the Coast Starlight, and finally the California ZEPHYR to Chicago. The
staff,service and equipment were all grade A. The only negatives were related to
the freight delays,which Amtrak can not control.It is disheartening to sit at a
siding, for 20 minutes at a time,watching freight wiz by. There is a very good
article in the May,2014 issue of TRAINS magazine,describing the freight issue.
Besides freight and weather, a bumper grain crop in Canada and US last fall,has
added to the volume. Eastbound trains out of Chicago are held to accommodate
late arriving cross country trains from the west coast,so western freight delays
impact the eastbound Lake Shore.

The Lakeshore Limited has been a poor performer since long before anyone ever heard the phrase “oil trains”. I can recall the LL regularly arriving in Boston 5-8 hours late 20 years ago. And, yes, a big part of the problem even then was that they used freight lines for most of the route. Guess whose traffic has priority? Meanwhile the BOS-NYC-WSH corridor has sported an on-time history that would make many airlines blush. The fact that Amtrak owns that right-of-way (and has about a dozen round trips going daily) makes a big difference. If Amtrak is serious about improving Lakeshore Limited performance, as well as any other intercity route experiencing on-time problems, the key is to obtain proprietary rights-of-way. Or perhaps it is long overdue for these routes to give up the ghost and for Amtrak officials to admit there was a good reason for long distance passenger rail travel to virtually dry up nearly 50 years go.

Hey what the heck do you expect, railroads have not been subsidized like the airports or highways, every mile of track bed is taxed by someone, so they tore up any extra rail now you essentially have one way traffic. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the problem. What if all the roads were single lane one way, how would that work.

Life’s great, when you hop aboard a cross country train, or even a more regionally focused train service, to embark upon a great vacation or possibly a business focused journey. Rail offers a smart, affordable and low stress way to get around and avoid a lot of the challenges, that so many travelers now experience, when using other forms of mass transit, for example, cramped flying. Rail offers people, the opportunity to both, get to where they want to be and the opportunity to reflect upon what they are doing, allowing them to arrive relaxed and ready to get on with their business. I’d love to share with you, some great insights into rail travel and Amtrak opportunities.